Here's the The Lowdownfrom DN Journal,
updated dailyto
fill you in on the latest buzz going around the domain name industry.

The Lowdown is
compiled by DN Journal Editor & Publisher Ron
Jackson.

TRAFFIC
Co-Founder Rick Schwartz is Returning to the
Conference Game With an Intimate August Event in
Asheville

15
years after launching the
first large scale conference devoted
entirely to domain names and five
years after his last one, T.R.A.F.F.I.C.
Co-Founder and pioneering domain
investor Rick Schwartz is climbing
back into the ring. However, this
time he is taking an entirely
different approach for the
event he is putting
together for August 1-3, 2019
at the historic Grove Park Inn in
Asheville, North Carolina
where Rick has a second home.

While
TRAFFIC drew around 125 attendees to
itsfirst
show in Florida back in
2004 (and five times that many
within a couple of years) Schwartz,
by design, is aiming for only around50 dedicated domain pros
(including spouses) for what he is
calling the 1st Annual Asheville
Professional Domain Investor's
Meetup & Family Outing.

Rick
Schwartz

How
can you make a profit with 50
attendees? You probably can't and
that's fine with Schwartz who isn't
looking for one - or even selling
tickets for that matter. Instead, he
said everyone will pay their own
way. "This is a not for
profit event," Schwartz
wrote. "Those that come will
share the expenses. All I am doing
is
facilitating
and financing." That meant
putting out around $25,000 up
front to secure the venue, dates
and some key services. If 50 people
come Schwartz expects the shared
cost would be about $250 per person,
maybe less as he added, "that
cost will be going down, not up. We
have a domainer friendly sponsor
that will be helping out."
Attendees would also have the cost
of travel and the hotel room but
that is true of any event.

The
Grove Park Inn nestled among
the mountains in scenic Asheville,
North Carolina where the 1st
annual Asheville Professional
Domain Investor's Meetup &
Family Outing will be held in
August. (Photo courtesy of the
Omni Grove Park Inn).

In
a post
on his blog this
morning, Schwartz laid out a
preliminary agenda that makes it
clear this event will be all
about the networking, most of
which will be done in a casual
atmosphere (with lots of
great food and beverages close
at hand) in one of America's most
beautiful locales. Rather than
spending the day cooped up in a
conference room, it will be a free
flowing experience highlighted by
some unique social events like a
Friday night Asheville Ghost Tour
and a Saturday afternoon Asheville
MicroBrewery Tour, along with a chance
to enjoy Asheville's great
restaurants and booming night life every
night.

Plans
for the event came together very
quickly. Schwartz first announced he
was thinking about it in a blog post
two
weeks ago. Then, on Tuesday
of this week, he announced he had
reserved the venue and went on to
lay out more details on what he had
in mind. Reading those two earlier
articles along withtoday's
postmakes a persuasive
case for being in Asheville in
August. Schwartz said he expected to
have a registration page and hotel
room reservation page (with a
discounted group rate at the upscale
inn) online in about two weeks.
Then it will be strictly first
come, first served and he
expects the small allotment of
spaces to fill up quickly (around 25
had already stated their intention
to attend in commentary posted to
his blog). The best way to get early
notice would be to keep an eye on
his posts at RicksBlog.com
where the latest details will be
announced.

We need your help to keep giving
domainers The
Lowdown, so please email editor@dnjournal.comwith any interesting information you might have. If possible,
include the source of your information so we can check it out (for
example a URL if you read it in a forum or on a site
elsewhere).